Dynamic Participant Program

VLS Dynamic Participantprogram will heighten your Vietnamese proficiency level and help you quickly become an active participant in the Vietnamese culture and community. Our four levels take you from being on the outside of the Vietnamese culture and community to being like a welcome family member. Each level – Join In, Connect, Share, and Like Family – marks your progress in the Dynamic Participant Program.

Our training program and methods will increase your interaction with Vietnamese locals, strengthen your practical language skills, broaden your knowledge about, and build strong connections with the Vietnamese culture and community. Speaking and listening skills are the priority at the initial “Join In” and “Connect” levels. Reading, essay writing, discussion and presentation skills are developed in the “Share” and “Like Family” levels.

Let us take the PRESSURE OUT of learning and guide your GROWTH and PARTICIPATION in Vietnamese language, culture and community

VLS’ DYNAMIC PARTICIPANT PROGRAM

Let’s see your GROWTH when you LIVE IN VIETNAMESE with VLS!

Level 1: JOIN IN (80 hours)

Welcome to the Vietnamese language, culture and community!

At the Join In level, the courses are taught with a strong emphasis on listening, speaking, and functional fluency. Course topics, vocabulary, and functions of communication are carefully compiled to provide you with the language patterns that you will need to successfully “survive” and thrive as you experience everyday situations in Vietnam. Upon completion, you will achieve a solid foundation not only in conversational Vietnamese but also in phonetics (pronunciation), grammar and cultural aspects. You are well-prepared for the next level of Vietnamese language studies and for engaging in Vietnamese culture and community.

The Join In level includes two courses:

Join In 1 (40 hours) Join In 2 (40 hours)

• Self introductions • Asking about and describing

• Food, beverages and ordering people and things while

in restaurants sharing personal opinions

• Jobs & occupations • Hobbies

• Introducing people and things • Asking and giving directions &

• Shopping Traveling

• Family, sharing experiences • Time & daily activities

• Habits and routines

• Making an appointment

Level 2: CONNECT (80 hours)

Chúc mừng! Congratulations! You are ready for stronger connections to enhance your experience in Vietnam!

In the Connect level, course units are also sequenced to deal with functional language patterns and vocabulary that you will typically use in situations encountered on a daily basis in Vietnam, but now you will be trained for more developed conversations. Natural Vietnamese is strongly emphasized in the Connect courses, and interaction with the locals is encouraged in every lesson. Teaching pronunciation continues to be emphasized as an important part of the curriculum. Small reading texts are also included in the course units. Upon completion, you will be confident with your conversational skills and have functional fluency to converse properly on everyday topics with good cultural awareness.

The Connect level includes two courses:

Connect 1 ( 40 hours) Connect 2 (40 hours)

• Shopping with more product • Residence & neighborhood

details • Renting a house

• Talking about a trip or service • Daily routines and habits in

• Booking a tour or service depth, interviewing a famous

• Making a phone call, making a person

business arrangement • Likes & dislikes in depth,

• Expressing capability, discussion about hobbies

possibility • Describing a job/business,

• Health and sickness, medical place of work/working

treatments environment in depth

• Describing someone and

his/her characteristics in depth

Level 3: SHARE (240 hours)

Chúc mừng! Congratulations! You are ready to comprehensively express yourself through sharing about your personal life, perspectives, expertise, and passions with others as well as to thoroughly and thoughtfully share/understand (interpret) others’ stories.

In the Share level, every course has a topic-based syllabus, which includes thorough and comprehensive work for improving your language skills and enriching your perspectives. We use semi-authentic to authentic materials, sources, and native environment (Vietnamese news briefs, articles, video clips, movie extracts, idiomatic sayings, etc.). Your knowledge of Vietnamese grammar will be strengthened. Reading and listening comprehension, discussion, and oral presentation are all geared toward providing you a wide range of topical vocabulary. Opportunities to experience Vietnamese life, culture, and traditions for your personal reflections are more frequently introduced to you during the courses. You also start to practice writing essays. Upon completion, you continue to develop higher proficiency in oral and written Vietnamese of intermediate level, with greater cultural awareness and sensitivity. You will be able to take part in more complex conversations and exchanges which demonstrate your expanded and further refined language skills.

The Share level includes three courses:

SHARE 1 (80 hours) SHARE 2 (80 hours) SHARE 3 (80 hours)

Level 4: LIKE FAMILY (LF) (240 hours)

Chúc mừng! Congratulations! You are now feeling as attached to Vietnamese language, culture and community as to a family member. You can be proud of this achievement, which is now a significant part of your life.

The Like Family level courses aim to raise your Vietnamese language and cultural competency to an advanced level. Every course continues to have a multilayered, topic-based syllabus, which includes thorough and comprehensive work using authentic materials, sources, and native environments. Course by course, you will read, listen to and discuss selections from local newspapers, TV news, documentary films, journals and modified literary excerpts about the native country, people, culture, history, economy, politics, and society. Lesson units are structured around up-to-date topics directly related to your needs and interests. You will be well trained in speaking at length and expository writing with refined arguments.

Upon completion, you will be able to:

- understand Vietnamese spoken by native speakers at a natural pace, with a variety of regional accents and

dialects in both informal (interpersonal) and formal (presentational) contexts;

- express yourself both orally and in writing with outstanding performance using different strategies for different

- translate and interpret more effectively in casual situations as well as in academic and professional contexts.

The Like Family level includes three basic* courses:

LF 1 (80 hours) LF 2 (80 hours) LF 3 (80 hours)

*With your growth at the Like Family level, you can continue to develop your participation in Vietnamese language, culture and community with our Active-Member-level courses, equivalent to Distinguished Advanced level..

SPECIAL COURSES(Please contact us if you need further details):

• Active-Member courses: Business Vietnamese/Vietnamese for Special Purposes